Horse Racing: Where Are They Now?; Richard Hutchinson

NOT many punters will know that the taxi driver ferrying them to and from this week's Western Meeting could be none other than the man that rode Swinging Junior to victory in the 1972 Ayr Gold Cup.

Richard Hutchinson was a 22-year-old rookie still claiming a five-pound allowance when the Nigel Angus- trained charge hurtled home at 14-1 three quarters of a length ahead of Spanish Gold.

And success was all the sweeter as Lester Piggott came third that year on Vicent O'Brien's Abergwaun after been earlier linked with the ride on the Cree Lodge- trained Swinging Junior.

Bellshill-born Hutchinson, now 52, recalled: "I know we fancied the horse a lot that year even a couple of months before the race itself.

"I told my dad to get on as he was trained to the minute and it was only nearer the time that I began to have second thoughts thinking `I'm only an apprentice I could be wrong here'.

"But I needn't have worried as he had that bit of class and everything went like clockwork on the day. I set him alight about the half-furlong marker and it was soon all over - it may have been 30 years ago but I remember it well. …

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